The
Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) will hold a meeting on September
23, 2002 in Washington, D.C. to gather input for its new strategic plan,
which will be a guide for NOAA scientific and research efforts in years
to come. The program is open to the public and will be held at the Ronald
Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., in the Atrium Ballroom
from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This is the fourth of six public meetings
to be conducted nationwide by the federal science agency over the next
60 days.

Announcing
the commencement of a new strategic planning process, retired Navy Vice
Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher,
Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA
administrator stated, “We intend to build a document that will
allow the agency, through working with its constituents, to be more
effective and responsive to the nation’s needs now and into the
future.”

In its final form, expected to be released
in March 2003, the plan will provide a comprehensive blueprint to guide
the $3.4 billion federal science agency and will include a flexible,
rolling horizon as opposed to a fixed time span. NOAA’s current
five year strategic plan was originally developed in 1993 and revised
in 1998.

The
goals and actions contained in the new plan will also incorporate recommendations
previously developed by an internal program review team. These recommendations
seek to improve integration across the agency, increase efficiency,
promote increased responsiveness to customer needs, and support President
Bush’s Management Agenda. The recommendations are located at:
http://node3.hpcc.noaa.gov/internal/.

Lautenbacher
has assigned Timothy R.E.
Keeney, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere,
to lead the planning process.

“The creation of an effective strategic
plan is a significant management tool,” Keeney said. “Gathering
comments from the vast array of NOAA customers is a vital first step
in this demanding course of action. I encourage anyone with an interest
in NOAA programs to participate in these meetings as this input will
be key to NOAA’s future direction.”

The
strategic planning process entails a rigorous schedule of constituent
meetings in the following cities in addition to Washington, D.C.: Seattle,
Wash. conducted on August 27, 2002;
New Orleans, La. conducted on September 5, 2002;
Boston, Mass. conducted on September 18, 2002;
Boulder, Colo. on September 26, 2002;
and Cleveland, Ohio on October 16, 2002.

It
will continue with the development of a draft plan available for public
review and comment in early December.

Information
about the strategic planning process is available at http://www.osp.noaa.gov.
Results from each constituent meeting will be posted at this site, and
the public can make comments directly via the Internet.

NOAA
is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and
providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and
marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.